Banishing academic dishonesty could help Mozambique nurture original thinkers who are economically efficient and socially suited to develop the country. But this will only be possible if administrators work with professors and students to build strong measures to combat widespread plagiarism, which is hampering the production of quality graduates.

Egyptian university students are suffering from a sharp rise in harsh actions taken against them by security forces and university administrations. A new report documents a total of 1,552 violations against students arrested during the past academic year.

Calls for the payment of salary backlogs by staff in state universities resumed after the recent elections in Nigeria. There had been a lull during pre-election campaigns, when soon-to-be President Muhammadu Buhari had promised to pay all salary arrears of public servants if his party was voted into power.

The highly reputed Institut International d’Ingénierie de l’Eau et de l’Environnement, or 2iE, has been in crisis for several months, with some staff, students and parents protesting against what they claim is disastrous and incompetent management, according to press reports. The director general has rebutted the accusations, and says he is open to negotiation.

Foreign tertiary institutions in Ghana have been directed by the National Accreditation Board to ensure that only students with certificates awarded by institutions accredited by the board be admitted to PhD courses. It is also concerned about a spate of honorary degrees awarded to personalities by some unaccredited or unqualified institutions.

The Africa-European Union Renewable Energy Cooperation Programme is shaping renewable energy market development with support for training the next generation of energy professionals and promoting renewable energy research in Africa.

Kenya’s plan to revitalise post-secondary technical and vocational institutions – aimed at imparting engineering, science and technical skills to thousands more young people – is finally taking shape thanks to a US$62 million loan from the African Development Bank.

The Uganda-based Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture, or RUFORUM, has received a boost for its doctoral training programme with a grant of US$1.5 million from the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

The Russian government plans to make national military universities the most prestigious higher education institutions in the country, triple their funding and add to their number during the next several years, according to an official spokesman of the Russian Ministry of Defence.

It is time for African academics to consider drafting a charter on academic freedom. It will be a daunting task. But the costs of failing to protect this basic human right, as other countries across the globe use universities to create new ideas and intellectual properties essential to the growth of the knowledge economy, will be great for African universities and nation states.

Strengthening African scientists’ capacity to conduct credible peer review would be one small step to improving the quality of the continent’s science and building the skills of its scientists. Both are key to helping Africa develop its own research agenda.

The rapid expansion of government funding for science in South Africa is perhaps surprising given the present climate of spending cutbacks amid urgent social priorities. Funding for public science in South Africa has increased by 71% in five years. It will reach R7.6 billion in 2015-16.

Preparations for enrolling an increased number of first-year students into higher education in Algeria are well under way for the 2015-16 academic year, with an extra 76,000 places and 50,000 beds across the country, announced Tahar Hadjar, the higher education and scientific research minister.

The West African Economic and Monetary Union and UNESCO are equipping six of the region’s eight major universities with computer facilities and networks at a total cost of FCFA6 billion (US$10 million).

A University of the Witwatersrand independent appeal and review committee has upheld a decision made in May to remove Mcebo Dlamini, the former student representative council president, from office for misconduct. Dlamini sparked outrage in South Africa for professing deep admiration for Hitler.

Burkina Faso’s Transitional National Council has passed legislation to create a National Academy of Sciences of Burkina, with the aim of promoting socio-economic development through science, humanities, arts and culture.

The Saudi government has invested heavily in higher education, but it is likely to be producing too many graduates for the available jobs. Instead, it could put the money into improving the quality of its research output.

Until the US Visa Waiver Program is abolished or the US visa requirements are made universal for all non-citizens, academic societies should hold their annual events in nations where visa policies are equitable for all.

School education should be used as a recruiting ground for foreign students to secure more higher education enrolments, according to a Victoria government paper examining how to combat rising competition from universities in Asian countries.

The intelligence of animals can be estimated by the size of the holes in the skull which the arteries pass through, according to novel research by biologists at the University of Adelaide, because hole size results from brain activity being related to the metabolic rate.

The slowdown in the Chinese economy doesn’t mean the end of international students from China, as growing numbers of Chinese choosing to do undergraduate courses abroad show. But self-funded graduate education at masters and doctorate levels will face challenges for the next couple of years.